Thread: Feed reversing gear seized on 14 1/2"

I've got a 14 1/2" SB that I just got running the other week and was working on some parts when the lathe stopped almost instantly. Well, it turns out that one of the feed reversing lever gears had seized, apparently the oil wicks are shot and having oiled it didn't do much. I'm wondering if a replacement gear and hub is able to be sourced from somewhere, and if so where. It is the smaller of the two gears that has scoring and giving me the grief. Also, are a set of replacement wicks available or any guidelines for rewicking it? Everything I found seems to be for rewicking the spindle, not the feed reversing lever setup.

The larger of the two gears seems to work well, it does have ridges in the bore and hub, but turns freely.

I have entertained the thought of stoning it to see if I can restore it back to functional, but do not currently have any stones to get the inside of the bore. Any other methods of repairing it are more than welcome.

On a brighter note, the crossfeed screw bushing I got from SBlatheman seems to be doing well.

Bracket



Gear and hub



Overall size



Hub



And since everyone loves pictures, the two SB lathes I have here, the 14 1/2" and the 10".

The 10"



14 1/2"



14 1/2" serial number

Just use some emory paper and clean up the galled surfaces. Chuck the parts lightly, spin them fast, 80-grit then some 120.

If you want to get fancy, take a skim cut on the hub to clean it up, then bore the gear out a 1/16" or so and install a bronze bushing.

Regards.

Mike

Originally Posted by Finegrain

Just use some emory paper and clean up the galled surfaces. Chuck the parts lightly, spin them fast, 80-grit then some 120.

If you want to get fancy, take a skim cut on the hub to clean it up, then bore the gear out a 1/16" or so and install a bronze bushing.

Regards.

Mike

I'm shaking my head as to why I didn't just take some emory paper to it to begin with...

Anyone know about the felt wicks in it?

Anyone know about the felt wicks in it?

I suggest to get the Rebuild Manual from Stephen Brooks. There is a well written step by step instruction on felt wick replacement in it. He is also selling the felt wicks in kit together with the manual for different type of SB lathes. Well worth it, you can use it for future overhauling, repairs or reassembly as well.
LINK to his listings.

Rbent, I have the same 14 1/2" SB. In your first photo of the twin gear bracket, there are two small holes. I had not seen them on mine so I went out, wiped off some grime and found them. I assumed they were oiling holes but upon cleaning out the holes I found that they were only about 1/8" deep and solid steel and would not accept oil.Now that you have yours disassembled, are they suppose to be through holes to the shaft felt? My oiling chart says "oil daily" but the holes are not accessible without removing the spindle end cover. Any thoughts on this?

Originally Posted by atwatterkent

Rbent, I have the same 14 1/2" SB. In your first photo of the twin gear bracket, there are two small holes. I had not seen them on mine so I went out, wiped off some grime and found them. I assumed they were oiling holes but upon cleaning out the holes I found that they were only about 1/8" deep and solid steel and would not accept oil.Now that you have yours disassembled, are they suppose to be through holes to the shaft felt? My oiling chart says "oil daily" but the holes are not accessible without removing the spindle end cover. Any thoughts on this?

I saw those and wondered the same thing. I think those were passages made for constructing the oiling system and then plugged because they were only construction holes. Mine are also plugged and it doesn't seem like you are meant to oil them. I didn't realize they existed without a decent amount of Citrol and some rags to clean the unit up.

I got it together and up and running again today, little time spent with some emory paper and a lot of time spent cleaning out gear teeth. The gear train is now noticeably quieter and the lathe takes a considerable amount more time to spin back down after cutting power. The lathe hasn't been ran much in the last 10 years though, so I'm sure items like this will keep popping up the more it is used.

Any guess as to the vintage of my lathe?

Originally Posted by atwatterkent

Rbent, I have the same 14 1/2" SB. In your first photo of the twin gear bracket, there are two small holes. I had not seen them on mine so I went out, wiped off some grime and found them. I assumed they were oiling holes but upon cleaning out the holes I found that they were only about 1/8" deep and solid steel and would not accept oil.Now that you have yours disassembled, are they suppose to be through holes to the shaft felt? My oiling chart says "oil daily" but the holes are not accessible without removing the spindle end cover. Any thoughts on this?

Other lathes had an angled hole drilled in the outer face of that shaft, downwards to surface the gear rides on. Later machines had a complex oil gallery with wicks which brought oil out to the gear bore. Does this machine not have that?

allan

I checked my SB lathes and found that my 9" 1946 has the angled holes on the outer face of the gear hub spindle. My 1961 10K has the same holes on top of the F/R casting that my 1956 14 1/2" has but have felt in them for oiling the the gear hub spindle. So all three have different oiling methods.

We need the serial # which is on the right front top of you bed between the vee's to approximate the manufacturing date and the model # to tell if you have a standard or toolroom version. The standard cat # is CL185 B,C,D,or E depending on the bed length and the toolroom version is CL8185 B,C,D, or E.

I think I may have a spare reversing assy for the 16 (don't know if that works for the14.5)if some future need arises for another south bender reading this thread, get in touch.

Originally Posted by atwatterkent

We need the serial # which is on the right front top of you bed between the vee's to approximate the manufacturing date and the model # to tell if you have a standard or toolroom version. The standard cat # is CL185 B,C,D,or E depending on the bed length and the toolroom version is CL8185 B,C,D, or E.

DDB-103F is the serial number.

Originally Posted by rbent

DDB-103F is the serial number.

That is the unit code number for the bed.
The serial number is between the front ways.
Ted

I had something similar a few years ago - I used a brake cylinder hone with some WD-40 for lube. Cleaning the bore up took only a few moments.

Originally Posted by SBLatheman

That is the unit code number for the bed.
The serial number is between the front ways.
Ted

That should be the last picture I uploaded then, 3087FKL16

That is a 1958 model.

I did some digging on those holes. They are for pins which hang down into the bore, and keep the axle aligned. This allows the felt in the keyway in the bottom of the axle, to line up with the felt that comes out of the face of the handle. Look at your first picture. There is a gray felt just below the axle holes, opposite these pin holes we are discussing.

allan